..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 2 March 2007
Press Release No. N/08/2007

UN /OECD Meeting to Promote Sustainable Development Strategies in Asia

BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services) — Rapid economic growth in Asia and the Pacific has come at a heavy environmental cost, and countries in the region are in urgent need to develop policies with a long-term perspective. In response to this challenge, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) are jointly organizing a Workshop on Developing Sustainability Strategies in Asia at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok from 8 to 9 March 2007.

UNESCAP regional participants come from Bangladesh, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Tuvalu and Vietnam. They will join colleagues from the 30 industrialized member countries of OECD and representatives of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) to discuss ways to incorporate environmental and social concerns into development planning.

Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, and Mr. Kiyotaka Akasaka, OECD Deputy Secretary General will participate in the workshop.

A recent report by UNESCAP warns that Asia and the Pacific is already living beyond its ecological carrying capacity. To ensure continuing economic growth, countries in the region will have to move away from the current ‘grow first, clean up later’ mentality and to embrace a ‘Green Growth’ model.

The “Green Growth” model proposed by UNESCAP emphasizes that environmental and ecological considerations must be integral to policy planning to ensure long-term economic and social viability, and economic growth should not be measured in GDP only but also in a set of eco-indicators. “Green Growth” is also about seeing environmental protection and clean production not as a cost or burden, but as an investment. It entails actively promoting business opportunities in such activities, and making the tax system favourable to environmental-friendly projects. Green Growth also calls for a sustainable consumption pattern.

NOTE TO EDITORS

You or your representatives are cordially invited to attend all sessions of the above Workshop to be opened on Thursday, 8 March 2007 at 9:15 am in Conference Room 3, First Floor of the United Nations Conference Centre, Rajadamnern Nok Ave., Bangkok.

For more information, please contact:
Thawadi Pachariyangkun
Public Information Officer
United Nations Information Services
Telephone: 02-288-1861; Fax: 02-288-1052
Email: unisbkk.unescap@un.org

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Headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, ESCAP is the largest of the UN's five Regional Commissions in terms of population served and area covered. The only inter-governmental forum covering the entire Asia-Pacific region, it aims to promote economic and social progress. More information is available at www.unescap.org.

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